Making your own Fire Bricks

[DTHERR]

Does anyone know how to make firebricks? I have a ceramic kiln was given to me on a trade vs labor (I install ceramic tile), I am planning a 36" oven build and want to make as much of my oven and parts by myself as possible . I think it would be cool to create it all from scratch

[Tscarborough]

Re: Making your own Fire Bricks

A firebrick will run a buck or 2. Making your own will cost you better than 10 bucks a pop, plus time, lots of it, but if it is worth it to you, sure I can tell you how.

[DTHERR]

Re: Making your own Fire Bricks

Wow 10 bucks each is steep , but knowledge is priceless. I also make concrete countertops so am allways looking for ways to improve my skills , was thinking of making my floor bricks, as locally all they have are the standard brick size fire bricks , but after reading the troubles one guy was having with replacing his 18 inch fire brick that was broken , i may just stick to the ones i can buy cheaply ,(and replace easily )

[Tscarborough]

Re: Making your own Fire Bricks

Think of it like this: With bricks, all the cracks are "pre-engineered" in. With tiles, they are not. To make a decent firebrick you will have to dry press them, which means building a mold box that can take a lot of pressure, but the big expense will be the cost of firing them since you can't get many into a pottery kiln.

[DTHERR]

Re: Making your own Fire Bricks

yes i can see were the cost of firing will be too expensive , after some studying on the subject they would need to be fired several times and that in itself makes it cost prohibitive . Thank you for pointing that out . City planner is on his way over today to discuss the plans of my build . I think he is as excited about my project as much as i am

[dragonsoup]

Re: Making your own Fire Bricks

how much does it cost to fire up a kiln?

[azatty]

Re: Making your own Fire Bricks

how much does it cost to fire up a kiln?

Depends on how many BTU the kiln burner puts out, kiln volume, and what your fuel is. Propane, for example, puts out about 90,000 BTU per gallon and costs about $3 per gallon. If your kiln has a 30,000 BTU burner and it takes 3 hours to fire the object, it costs you $3.00. If you can only fit 10 bricks at a time into the kiln, you have to fire it 25 or so times, so assuming the numbers in my example were "real," just the fuel would cost $75.00.

But considering that the drying oven alone bakes the bricks for 24 to 48 hours before high temperature firing, those numbers are obviously low.

[david s]

Re: Making your own Fire Bricks

Depends on how many BTU the kiln burner puts out, kiln volume, and what your fuel is. Propane, for example, puts out about 90,000 BTU per gallon and costs about $3 per gallon. If your kiln has a 30,000 BTU burner and it takes 3 hours to fire the object, it costs you $3.00. If you can only fit 10 bricks at a time into the kiln, you have to fire it 25 or so times, so assuming the numbers in my example were "real," just the fuel would cost $75.00.

But considering that the drying oven alone bakes the bricks for 24 to 48 hours before high temperature firing, those numbers are obviously low.

Making your own bricks is not worth the effort or expense.

1. A 3 hour firing to the required temp will result in disaster. Should be more, like 12 hrs, maybe more for such thick clay and to reach the required temp.
2. firing to stoneware temps takes approx. double the energy to that of earthenware. Fire bricks are usually fired to high stoneware temps. i.e. over 1280 C
3. You have to make sure that the clay body make up is suitable. eg. alumina/silica ratio, levels of fluxes and oxides present. That is not easy.

[azatty]

Re: Making your own Fire Bricks

Most certainly. I was just giving an example of how much a kiln costs to run for a very short time.

[david s]

Re: Making your own Fire Bricks

Our local potters assoc. charge $1.50 per kg for a bisque, so you could expect more than double that for a stoneware firing. What's the total weight of bricks for your oven?

[Barry Klooney]

I know this is a really old thread....

Why do firebricks in a pizza oven need to be kiln dried?

Could small increasingly hot fires do the same thing as well as using it afterwards?